Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MINSK1049
2007-12-21 17:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Minsk
Cable title:
22-YEAR-OLD POLITICAL PRISONER TO BE HELD 18
how-toVZCZCXRO8141 PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR DE RUEHSK #1049 3551709 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 211709Z DEC 07 FM AMEMBASSY MINSK TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6754 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 1776 RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001049
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR BO
SUBJECT: 22-YEAR-OLD POLITICAL PRISONER TO BE HELD 18
MONTHS LONGER
REF: MINSK 918
Classified By: Ambassador Karen B. Stewart for reason 1.4 (d).
Summary
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001049
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR BO
SUBJECT: 22-YEAR-OLD POLITICAL PRISONER TO BE HELD 18
MONTHS LONGER
REF: MINSK 918
Classified By: Ambassador Karen B. Stewart for reason 1.4 (d).
Summary
--------------
1. (SBU) Following a nine-hour trial, political prisoner and
Malady Front youth activist Artur Finkevich was sentenced
December 21 to eighteen months of detention in a penal colony
for violations of the terms of his May 2006 hard labor
("khimya") sentence for graffiti. Finkevich, who was nearing
the end of a two-year sentence, is now likely to be detained
until mid-2009. End Summary.
Finkevich Sentenced to Eighteen Months Detention
-------------- ---
2. (SBU) Judge Natalya Kashkina of the Oktyabrskiy Rayon
Court in Mogilyov sentenced current political prisoner and
Malady Front activist Artur Finkevich to eighteen months
detention in a penal colony December 21. Finkevich was
convicted for several violations of the terms of his May 2006
hard labor sentence for two acts of graffiti. The
violations, which Finkevich largely admitted while submitting
evidence of mitigating circumstances, included being late to
return to barracks (once by as little as 13 minutes) and
being intoxicated, once, according to Finkevich, because he
took medicine by mouth delivered in an alcohol solution. At
one point, Finkevich claimed that others in his labor colony
had gone missing for five or six days without prosecution.
In response Judge Kashkina asked if he was arguing that a
double standard had been used in his case. When Finkevich
answered in the affirmative, she dismissed the allegation
saying that such double standards were an issue for the
Ministry of Justice, not her
court.
Finkevich, Malady Front, Maintain Will to Fight
-------------- --
3. (C) Finkevich was visibly ill during the day's court
proceedings, and complained of chest pains as the trial
began. A doctor was summoned and though it was established
that Finkevich had elevated blood pressure, he was ordered
fit to stand trial. While his voice was soft and he looked
weak, Finkevich's spirit was not broken. At one point during
the trial he flashed the "V for Victory" sign to a Radio
Liberty reporter present in the courtroom.
4. (C) During the trial, Finkevich had the support of about
fifty Malady Front colleagues in the courtroom, and an equal
number outside the building. Those outside the courthouse
often led cheers of "Long Live Belarus" and "Freedom to
Finkevich" throughout the day's proceedings. Referring to
the conduct of the judge and prosecutor, opposition "For
Freedom" leader Aleksandr Milinkevich told Poloff that the
trial was absurd and that the verdict was clear from the
start. At one point early in the proceedings, Kashkina
"mistakenly" referred to Finkevich as "the guilty" instead of
"the accused," to groans from benches of opposition members
present. Following the guilty verdict and eighteen month
sentence, Timofey Dranchuk, an opposition lawyer who observed
the trial, told Poloff, who together with OSCE was also in
attendance, that Finkevich's sentence had been significantly
more than he expected. Dranchuk said that petty criminals
often received six months or one year for similar "khimya"
violations.
Comment
--------------
5. (C) An eighteen-month sentence for little more than
technical violations of labor detention is outrageous. The
selective prosecution, kangaroo court atmosphere and
unreasonably stiff verdict in Finkevich's trial confirm the
real reason for his detention, which was never graffiti or
barracks rules violations but Finkevich's outspoken
opposition to the Lukashenko regime. Since his original
two-year sentence was due to expire in just days, however,
one must ask why the Lukashenko regime chose draconian
punishment over the chance to earn points by freeing one of
six political prisoners "by attrition." Sadly, the action is
consistent with recent violent reactions to peaceful
demonstrations, and may signal a new pattern of repression.
STEWART
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR BO
SUBJECT: 22-YEAR-OLD POLITICAL PRISONER TO BE HELD 18
MONTHS LONGER
REF: MINSK 918
Classified By: Ambassador Karen B. Stewart for reason 1.4 (d).
Summary
--------------
1. (SBU) Following a nine-hour trial, political prisoner and
Malady Front youth activist Artur Finkevich was sentenced
December 21 to eighteen months of detention in a penal colony
for violations of the terms of his May 2006 hard labor
("khimya") sentence for graffiti. Finkevich, who was nearing
the end of a two-year sentence, is now likely to be detained
until mid-2009. End Summary.
Finkevich Sentenced to Eighteen Months Detention
-------------- ---
2. (SBU) Judge Natalya Kashkina of the Oktyabrskiy Rayon
Court in Mogilyov sentenced current political prisoner and
Malady Front activist Artur Finkevich to eighteen months
detention in a penal colony December 21. Finkevich was
convicted for several violations of the terms of his May 2006
hard labor sentence for two acts of graffiti. The
violations, which Finkevich largely admitted while submitting
evidence of mitigating circumstances, included being late to
return to barracks (once by as little as 13 minutes) and
being intoxicated, once, according to Finkevich, because he
took medicine by mouth delivered in an alcohol solution. At
one point, Finkevich claimed that others in his labor colony
had gone missing for five or six days without prosecution.
In response Judge Kashkina asked if he was arguing that a
double standard had been used in his case. When Finkevich
answered in the affirmative, she dismissed the allegation
saying that such double standards were an issue for the
Ministry of Justice, not her
court.
Finkevich, Malady Front, Maintain Will to Fight
-------------- --
3. (C) Finkevich was visibly ill during the day's court
proceedings, and complained of chest pains as the trial
began. A doctor was summoned and though it was established
that Finkevich had elevated blood pressure, he was ordered
fit to stand trial. While his voice was soft and he looked
weak, Finkevich's spirit was not broken. At one point during
the trial he flashed the "V for Victory" sign to a Radio
Liberty reporter present in the courtroom.
4. (C) During the trial, Finkevich had the support of about
fifty Malady Front colleagues in the courtroom, and an equal
number outside the building. Those outside the courthouse
often led cheers of "Long Live Belarus" and "Freedom to
Finkevich" throughout the day's proceedings. Referring to
the conduct of the judge and prosecutor, opposition "For
Freedom" leader Aleksandr Milinkevich told Poloff that the
trial was absurd and that the verdict was clear from the
start. At one point early in the proceedings, Kashkina
"mistakenly" referred to Finkevich as "the guilty" instead of
"the accused," to groans from benches of opposition members
present. Following the guilty verdict and eighteen month
sentence, Timofey Dranchuk, an opposition lawyer who observed
the trial, told Poloff, who together with OSCE was also in
attendance, that Finkevich's sentence had been significantly
more than he expected. Dranchuk said that petty criminals
often received six months or one year for similar "khimya"
violations.
Comment
--------------
5. (C) An eighteen-month sentence for little more than
technical violations of labor detention is outrageous. The
selective prosecution, kangaroo court atmosphere and
unreasonably stiff verdict in Finkevich's trial confirm the
real reason for his detention, which was never graffiti or
barracks rules violations but Finkevich's outspoken
opposition to the Lukashenko regime. Since his original
two-year sentence was due to expire in just days, however,
one must ask why the Lukashenko regime chose draconian
punishment over the chance to earn points by freeing one of
six political prisoners "by attrition." Sadly, the action is
consistent with recent violent reactions to peaceful
demonstrations, and may signal a new pattern of repression.
STEWART